Today is a special celebration therefore we ask the Lord for protection, blessing, love with all its infinite meanings, for the year that begins, for the memory of these thirty years, recalling the words that the Blessed Alvaro del Portillo addressed to you and which I truly believe have accompanied and also guard the secret of these thirty years. And you rightly preserve the memory of this, both for gratitude and for the many signs of the presence of the Sir, of his light and of the many miracles that he performed through him and through you. Woe to us if we forget about him because this always leads to a great overestimation of ourselves and makes us forget that we are only bearers of a love that is ours, but which belongs to him. When it becomes only ours we hurt ourselves, when we remember that it is his and that it is ours, therefore that he has entrusted it to us, then we also learn to spend it well because it is his and because we learn that ours is what we must give to others so that it is truly ours.
I will not be able to stay with you for the continuation of the inauguration ceremony of the academic year, in which you will confer the honorary degree to a person who helps to understand the importance of memory, history, suffering - among other things even in this very difficult moment for the Jewish people and for the entire Holy Land -. Preserving the memory of so much suffering is also a fair concern, as an artist very intelligently said last night: we must also conserve 'memory is the future'. It is not only preserving the memory of the past and at the same time a lot of gratitude but the memory of the future, remembering that there is a future, therefore tryingcarlo. The Christian cannot be fatalistic because he knows that there is the future, that someone is coming: the beauty of the Advent we are experiencing is realize thirty years of presence that exists and accompanied you, that enlightened you, that helped you accomplish something extraordinary.
Love always does something extraordinary. When we reduce it to personal ability, to protagonism, to exhibition, we play low, losing the horizon. When, however, we realize our smallness, that of everyone, because we are truly a small thing, we accomplish great things - and I believe that precisely in here many have found a little light in suffering and there are those who also find it when there is no more. I was talking to Don Robin of the hospice and there, where it seems that there is no longer any hope, there is hope, because there is care and care is what makes you understand the presence of the Lord in many ways. It is never just explicit. In many cases, through the treatment many have truly found the face of the Lord, the good doctor of men, as in the ancient Byzantine tradition 'the good doctor of men'. Through care they saw, they felt, they touched the presence of the Lord; even when they don't know his name, they feel his care. They don't recognize the name but they recognize the cure and everything passes there. And I think that this is also the advent of many signs of his presence, of the strength of his love that always cared for, healed and never left anyone alone. I believe that this is truly the meaning of your commitment, of your choice, because this is what it does difference.
It is never just a technical problem, it is never an administrative problem - it is also obviously a technical problem, also an administrative problem, there is no doubt - but there is something more that for Christians is not an accessory. Sometimes, someone - too caught up in the technical administrative logic - thinks that compassion is even dangerous: compassion is dangerous, yes, because you cannot send the crowd home, because you have to do something, because you cannot say 'I can't' and 'there is no more money, I can't do anything'. You cannot say this because compassion accompanies you to the end, as always, even when it is not convenient. If Alvaro del Portillo had he said 'let's think like this', there wouldn't have been all this. There compassion it is that more, it makes us realize Advent and makes us see what is not there in itself but is there, it also makes us look for it in the memory of the future which will make us find what is not yet there today , precisely compassion!
I was very impressed by the Censis report from a few days ago which, simultaneously with the beginning of the Advent period, in a lapidary but effective way defined us as 'sleepwalkers'. We are sleepwalkers, apparently alert but unable to see the signs that put the stability of the system at great risk and which looms in the future. You become a sleepwalker in many ways, there are various forms of sleepwalking (then there is also the ecclesiastical variant). It is a very complicated virus: there is also clinical, academic sleepwalking, different variants. Here you cannot be sleepwalkers because there is that great wake-up call which is suffering, then you can also become sleepwalkers in the face of suffering which is ultimately the attitude of the disciples who say "it's a crowd, but what can we do?". In this case, however, it is a crowd of many sick people, isn't it? It is therefore the choice of compassion, which is partly chosen and partly felt. It is also a great exercise: if we are victims we have no compassion for others, the we use it all for ourselves and it is very dangerous, for us in the first place. The fear of the future, for example, makes us sleepwalk. When does the fear of the future begin? When compassion overcomes the fear of the future you have to do something because ' that crowd is mine, because I feel that suffering is mine", this means compassion. When someone says 'I'm fine, you're sick, I'm sorry, goodbye' that's not compassion, it's a caricature. Compassion unites, in this sense I think he's great Advent that asks us to look at the future, to seek the future, to wake up. The Lord truly makes us vigilant and this is what I ask with you, remembering and celebrating these first thirty years. By choosing, because compassion is chosen. When I see someone who is ill I can also become like the sleepwalking priest, or I can stop following that first good Samaritan who is Jesus and becoming one too because in this way I find my neighbor.
Here you have found your neighbor, also for the security you give, precisely even when it seems that nothing is worth it, the security you manage to convey to those who are in the pandemic of fragility is even stronger. So this is the memory of the future because it is the treasure, the true inheritance that you have. I think of the great vision of the Work, of the great tradition of the Work, it helps you to look to the future, it is not just a memory of the past but it is truly the memory of the future. I conclude by reading the words of that time which even today, in this Advent, show us our path. Blessed Alvaro del Portillo said in 1993: “In leading this university initiative, you intend to continue first of all with the expansion of the kingdom of God (...) thanks to the Spirit of Opus Dei, which teaches to sanctify the professional level, to seek holiness in the fulfillment of professional, family and social duties and to help others to be saints, this teaching and scientific research center will undertake to offer particular attention to the training of doctors and nurses so that, in addition to working well with proven professional and technical competence, they inspire their activity to true rectitude of intention and an authentic spirit of service”. Compassion is the synthesis of all this.
May the Lord give you many years in which to remember the past which serves to invest in the present and future, so that the many Christmases can help us and those who are suffering to see the presence of God.
